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United States Patent | 5,083,174 |
Kub | January 21, 1992 |
A magnetic field sensor uses a MOSFET comprising an silicon layer with a source at one end and first and second drains at the other end, and a layer of silicon dioxide applied to the silicon layer between the source and the drain. The gate of the MOSFET is a floating gate assembly provided on the top surface of the silicon dioxide layer and comprising a DC gate for receiving a DC voltage and producing electron charge movement at or near the interface between the silicon and silicon dioxide layers, and first and second floating gates located adjacent to the first and second drains, respectively. A charge splitter channel divides the first floating gate and the first drain from the second floating gate and the second drain. An output signal is taken from each floating gate based upon the electron charges in the silicon dioxide layer below each respective floating gate, wherein the movement of the electron charges is deflected based upon the strength of the magnetic field, thereby causing more electron charges to be deflected towards one or the other of the two floating gates.
Inventors: | Kub; Francis J. (Arnold, MD) |
Assignee: | The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy (Washington, DC) |
Appl. No.: | 560700 |
Filed: | July 31, 1990 |
Current U.S. Class: | 257/421; 257/316; 257/E27.005; 324/252 |
Intern'l Class: | H01L 027/22; H01L 029/68; H01L 029/82; H01L 043/00 |
Field of Search: | 357/27,23.5,23.6,85,51 307/575 |
4855800 | Aug., 1989 | Esquivel et al. | 357/23. |
Foreign Patent Documents | |||
0096190 | Dec., 1983 | EP | 357/27. |
0096218 | Dec., 1983 | EP | 357/27. |
"Hall Effect Device Feedback Circuit", Collins, IBM Tech. Dis. Bulletin, . 13, #8, Jan. 1971, p. 2448. "Semiconductor Magnetic Field Sensor", Freeman et al., IBM Tech. Dis. Bulletin, vol. 18, #5, Oct. 1975, pp. 1389-1390. "Magnetic and Electrical Properties of N-Channel MOS Hall-Effect Device", Yagi et al., Jap. J. of Appl. Phys., vol. 15, #4, Apr. 1976, pp. 655-661. |